


Everything’s Fine

by the_butler



Series: Prompts [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Quantum thingamajig, The slightest hint of spoilers for Avengers: Endgame maybe, Writing Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-02-16 12:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18691747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_butler/pseuds/the_butler
Summary: Okay. So, this wasn’t the first time him and Steve crashed on the same bed. But a buck naked Steve in the same bed as him was... hm. Not even in the army where they all took showers all together in the altogether did they crash in the same army issued cot sans vêtements.Prompt: All of the characters find themselves living perfectly ordinary lives for some reason.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Quantum stuff happened, I assume.

The sunlight streamed into the room and hit Bucky square in the face, prompting him to begrudgingly leave his comfortable position on his left side and turn to his right, where he came into contact with someone else. 

“Whuz?” He groggily asked, still half-asleep but wakefulness rapidly approaching as his mind tried to process if he went home with anyone last night. What was last night even? Did he even go out? His brows furrowed deeper when he finally opened his eyes, and had to blink them several times as if trying to change the reality before him which was a sleeping Steve Rogers in the nude. Well, half-nude, as the blanket covered him discreetly up to the waist, but only just. Okay. So, this wasn’t the first time him and Steve crashed on the same bed. But a buck naked Steve in the same bed as him was... hm. Not even in the army where they all took showers all together in the altogether did they crash in the same army issued cot sans vêtements. 

This was sobering, and as such Bucky was now fully wide awake. 

And now, in his awoken state, did he come to realize that he too was, ahem, buck naked. 

“Jesus, what the hell?” He exclaimed, and his voice might have been somewhere near a panicked scream since it made Steve’s sleeping face frown and turn into the pillow. Bucky bit his lip and sat up, looking around for his clothes and that’s when he noticed something else. His left arm. It was flesh and blood. He stared at it all agog, raised it to the light and flexed it this way and that, opened and closed his hand and wiggled each finger as if in a trance. He noticed ink, and turned it so to see the tattoo of a stylized red star on his bicep. Shit. 

Now in a true panic, he reached out without turning and nudged Steve roughly by the shoulder. He heard an irritated grumble but didn’t stop nudging until the grumble turned into a mumbled “whaddahell?”

“Fuckin’ wake up already Stevie!” He stopped staring at his arm and finally looked around to catch Steve blinking and looking up at him in confusion.

“Babe?” Steve asked. Bucky straight up goggled at him and asked back, “Babe? Stevie, what the heck did you call me?” This made Steve’s confusion deepen and his brows furrowed even more. He pushed himself up onto his elbow and looked around the room he was in. “I... I dunno? Why did I call you babe?”

“Why’d you call... fella, I don’t know, didn’t I ask first?” Bucky replied, exasperated. He ran his left hand through his hair, and he couldn’t recall the last time he was able to do that. This was freaking him out. “Listen, let me catch you up: we woke up together on this bed, both of us.. erm... naked. I don’t have any idea how we ended up like this, and I bet you don’t either.”

“We’re naked?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. He had to. Sarcasm was the only thing stopping him from lighting up the whole room with a red face full of embarrassment. “We’re a little slow on the uptake this morning, are we?”

Steve shot him a hurt look, and Bucky rolled his eyes again. “All right, well come on and let’s get dressed and figure this out already, okay Stevie?”

“Okay. Why am I looking for a white Stark-tech suit, though?” Steve asked as he got up and walked around the room, with nary a care. Well, why would he? It’s not like he knew about his best friend’s long, long, longstanding feelings him. “Somehow I feel like that’s something I should be seeing on the floor? But here’s... well I’m guessing this plaid shirt and khakis are mine.” Bucky almost drew blood from how hard he was biting the inside of his cheek as he watched Steve bend down and retrieve said clothes. He turned his head and focused on trying to remember anything from last night to stop a natural reaction from happening below the waist. He conjured up an image of... a white Stark-tech suit. And the word quantum? 

“Its... its not all white though? There’s some black and red mixed in?”

“Oh, yeah. Why do we both know this suit?” Steve asked back as he put on the clothes he assumed were his. Bucky was still avoiding looking at Steve that it caught him off guard when he got hit in the face with a red henley shirt and black jeans. “Those are yours I’m guessing” he heard Steve through the clothes cover his head. 

“Gee, thanks.” Came his muffled answer. “Could’ve handed it over like a decent person but I guess we’re throwing around stuff now.”

He pulled the clothing in time to see Steve smirk at him. “C’mon, grumpy-pants. Get into those pants so we could figure this out already.”

As Bucky put on his clothes he watched Steve inspect the room they were in. It was a a bit of a small bedroom, at least for two men over 6 feet, and the king sized bed took up most of the room. There were closets and a dresser next to a door, and bedside tables with lamps and books and... Steve was staring at the framed photo on the table on his side of the bed. Bucky watched him pick it up and give it a closer inspection. 

“Hey, Buck?” Steve asked, distracted by the photo, Bucky craned his head to try to get a look, gave up and just walked around to the other side of the bed to look at it over Steve’s shoulder. It was a black and white photo of the two of them in tuxes, arms around each other and smiling like they won the lottery. Some white stuff littered the picture- confetti or some such. 

“Huh. We won something at a fancy party?”

Bucky couldn’t see Steve’s face, but the other was silent as he placed the photo frame back on the table as it were earlier. 

“Buck, that’s a wedding photo.” Came the quiet answer.

It took a moment for it to sink in, and by the time it did Steve was already halfway out the door and Bucky was still staring at the photo. It wasn’t confetti falling, rather it was rice thrown at them. And there in graphic detail was his face smiling wide and looking in naked adoration at Steve, who had his eyes closed and face etched with pure joy. 

“Jesus H. Christ on a stick.” Bucky blasphemed breathlessly. He didn’t even get to tell Steve about his arm. Bucky frowned. Why did he want to tell Steve about his arm? There was something about it, a thought that kept slipping through his mind like some slippery thing through his hands, and in a slightly confused state of déjà vu Bucky finally moved from staring at the wedding picture and left to follow Steve into what he assumed was the rest of their apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “In Germany? What, we were in the army together? I got news for you pal, we ain’t that old to have fought with you in World War II.”
> 
> In which the idyll is inevitably broken.
> 
> PROMPT (First line): He’d had a bad day and just needed something to make him feel better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn’t going to continue any of the prompts but I guess this one had more to it.

He’d had a bad day and just needed something to make him feel better. 

He slammed the door to his locker just to vent some of the frustration he was feeling. It started out not so bad- actually it started great. He woke up next to his very handsome husband who slept in because he didn’t have an art class to teach until two in the afternoon. Bucky, on the other hand, had to be at Stark Tower by 9 am. That didn’t mean they didn’t get to squeeze in some cuddle time before he had to hit the shower and out the door by 8. Maybe 8:15, Steve was feeling a little frisky this morning. Bucky smiled at the very recent memory. 

So he was a little late- and that’s when it all went downhill. First his favorite barista, Wanda, was out sick and a kid named Peter got his order wrong. First day, he understood, so he let it slide even though the kid was absolutely over himself with worry. Then he got to work late, and his superior Natasha (who he has a love-hate relationship with, mostly love but when it comes to work she can be a real tight ass) chewed him out a bit. After that, routine security inspection threw up some worrying bugs in the building, and then they had to figure out how those got there overnight, and wasn’t he the last to leave before the overnight crew arrived, asked an irritated Natasha. So that was most of his work day, figuring that shit out, and then Maria Hill their liaison with the government S.H.I.E.L.D. (where he used to work along with his best buddy Sam before he moved to the security arm of Stark Industries so him and Steve could go back and live in New York) showed up with more troubling info, and wasn’t that just great, more things for Bucky to figure out within his shift. And then by the end of the day the man himself, Tony Stark, dropped by and had some acerbic bon mots thrown his way, because he figured out the bugging problem on his own, and that’s the whole of Bucky’s day just wasted. Turned out there was some corporate espionage going down, and why wasn’t security alerted, was what Bucky wanted to know, but Natasha just shut him down with a ‘it’s supposed to be our job to know, stupid’. 

Bucky sighed. Happy, Tony Stark’s chief bodyguard, had some words with his team and wasn’t that just the icing on the cake- this neurotic man pounding Alka-Seltzer tablets lecturing him and his crew about their jobs. Bucky grimaced when he remembered his glowing words when he had been trying to get Sam to move to New York and work for Stark Industries over the phone. Sure, it was a pretty good gig- great benefits (no problem with getting Steve covered, and that’s pretty progressive for a company), good pay, you get to live in the city, etc etc etc But, and there’s always a but, there were days like this that just gets to him. He didn’t even get to eat lunch. Clint, Natasha’s counterpart in the other security team, had brought some of his wife’s famous muffins and Bucky missed out because he was knee deep in personnel files trying to track down possible suspects. And all for naught. He still had to work out before heading home. Maybe that’s good- he could work out some of his aggression before coming home to a lovely meal from his perfect husband. 

Only when he gets to the company gym, Natasha was waiting for him, ready to spar. Bucky gritted his teeth. This was going to hurt. 

Tired, sore, and still a little irritated (the rush hour giving him some new things to gripe about), Bucky finally got to the door of their modest second floor apartment. It wasn’t big, but it was home. Inside, the living room was halved to make space for Steve’s workspace. Bucky didn’t mind. They rarely had visitors over anyway, a thing Natasha liked to joke to Steve about- ‘a pair of 100 year old shut-ins’ she’d call them, but in truth a small social circle hardly bothered either of them. So he was a little surprised when he entered their apartment and saw Steve sitting on his workspace stool, looking serious with his arms folded, listening to some stranger in a weird white, black and red bodysuit gesturing wildly in the middle of their home. 

“Darling?”

Both Steve and the stranger turned around, who then goggled and repeated incredulously, “Darling? Seriously? Cap... oh man, like I’m happy for you and all but, what?” 

“Who the hell is this clown?” Bucky asked, his day-long frustrations threatening to spill. Natasha may have kicked his ass on the mat earlier, but he’s willing to bet he can take on this guy. Said guy goggled at him some more, and Bucky threw down his gym bag on the couch and shrugged off his hoodie. 

“Oh my god where is your arm? Bucky what... how?” The stranger pointed at Bucky’s left arm, which Bucky instinctively hid behind his torso. 

“What the heck is with you? Jesus, Stevie who is this?”

Steve, who had still been sitting down and staring at the interaction with the utmost serious look on his face while chewing his lip, cocked his head to one side and said, “he says he’s... what was it again, bug-man?”

The stranger closed his eyes, exasperated, but corrected Steve as if it was something he encountered all the time, “Ant-Man.”

“So, like an exterminator with a superhero theme? I didn’t know we needed one.” Bucky said to Steve over the ‘Ant-Man’s head. 

“Guys, you know me! Scott, remember? We fought in Germany together, I get really small but then I was a giant, and, you know what, that’s not important. What’s important is I found you guys and now we can all get back to the correct timeline! I brought extra Pym particles so you guys can come back with me!”

“In Germany? What, we were in the army together? I got news for you pal, we ain’t that old to have fought with you in World War II.” 

The Ant-Man closed his fists and shook them in agitation. “But we did! And you are! I mean we did fight in Germany together but not in World War II! And the both of you *are* old enough to have fought in the war! He’s Captain America”, and here he rigidly pointed a fist in Steve’s direction, then pointed the other one towards Bucky, “and you’re his Sergeant Barnes, the Winter Soldier!”

The curse died in Bucky’s mouth as a sudden, violent déjà vu took hold of him. There was the war, not Iraq or Afghanistan, but World War II? And a train, Bucky’s knees felt weak as a feeling of falling caught him in surprise, and he had to catch himself on the sofa beside him lest he fall to the floor. This was more than just a vague sense of déjà vu now, it was a feeling and a memory and he suddenly felt cold, so cold, and his left arm... he looked at his left arm in confusion. 

“Oh... oh I might have broken him.” The Ant-Man said in a worried voice. “That didn’t happen with you though!” He continued, more confused than accusatory, as Steve pushed him out of the way to get to Bucky. 

Steve’s strong hands anchored him back, but he still stared at his left arm as if it wasn’t his own, and the jumbled memories and sensations were now replaced with nausea. “I think I’m gonna throw up.” Bucky said weakly, as Steve helped him to his feet and guided him towards their bathroom. The Ant-Man truly looked remorseful as they passed him, and Bucky heard his plaintive, “is there anything I can do?” to which Steve replied, quiet but admonishing, “You’ve done enough.”

The Ant-Man wasn’t there anymore when he left the bathroom, where he tried to throw up nothing since he hadn’t had any proper food the whole day, and splashed his face with cold water. He thought only people in movies did that thing, bend over the sink and dramatically wash their face with water when things got too much, but it was actually mildly helpful. Bucky looked around, drying his face with a hand towel with just his right hand. He didn’t want to think about his left arm right now. 

“Where’d he go?” He had a lot of questions, and the bug man better have some answers. He saw Steve staring down at the floor, arms crossed, brows furrowed. At his question Steve looked up to him, first unseeing as if just following a sound, lost in his own thoughts. Then the look was replaced with one of worry, and Bucky felt a sinking feeling in his gut. 

“We need to talk.” Steve said, and then turned around and walked towards their bedroom. 

Bucky shook his head, muttered “just my luck”, hung the towel over his shoulder and followed Steve.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He opened it, and Bucky knew what was inside before Steve took it out. It was the same white, red and black bodysuit as the Ant-Man was wearing. 
> 
> “What, we’re some sort of boy band?” Bucky cracked a joke to mask his nervousness.
> 
> In which quantum stuff is not explained.

“So, what was that about? How come I feel like... there’s two of me at the same time?” Bucky asked as he sat down their bed, making sure to be somewhere comfortable lest he get that weird physically violent déjà vu a second time. Steve was silent as he rooted around one of their closets, on his knees. He was still silent as he took out a box, stood and placed it on the bed beside Bucky. He opened it, and Bucky knew what was inside before Steve took it out. It was the same white, red and black bodysuit as the Ant-Man was wearing. 

“What, we’re some sort of boy band?” Bucky cracked a joke to mask his nervousness. Steve just shook his head, still serious. 

“Remember that weird morning three weeks ago? When we woke up disoriented? I was looking for this exact suit.”

“Stark-tech.” Bucky said without prompting, a memory suddenly returning. His eyes moved from the suit to Steve, who stood morose staring at the suit he laid out beside the box. “How come... how come I know this Steve?”

Steve sighed and placed his hands on his hips, the way he usually did when he was tired. “How much do you remember?”

Bucky paused as he tried to separate the jumbled memories in his head. Steve watched him with concern, and then moved the suit and the box to sit beside Bucky. He felt Steve’s hand find his, and it jolted him back to the present. He looked down on his left hand, and he felt Steve squeeze his right. “I don’t think I’m supposed to have this.”

He heard Steve sigh again. “They took you, rogue nazis. Zola experimented on you and then, when you fell...” Steve’s voice broke. Bucky continued for him, “from the train. I remember. I never... seeing your face as I fell. I never want to see you look that way again.”

“I never want to see you fall from a train again.”

“No, the second time it was you that fell. From... some giant heli... helicarriers?”

“You saved me.”

They stayed silent for a while after that. Bucky still stared at his left hand, zeroed in on the plain silver gold ring on it. “I don’t think I’m supposed to have this.” he repeated. Steve turned to look at him, studied the mournful face intently looking at the wedding ring. “You’re not talking about the metal arm HYDRA put on you, are you?”

“No.”

“Why? Why can’t you have this?”

“Because, if these memories mean the real me, then I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve to be married, happy, holding down a 9 to 5 being Tony Stark’s security expert for god’s sake.” Bucky said, voice rising, free hand gripping his knee hard. “I’m... bad. Steve, I’m a bad man. I did horrible things, I...”

He didn’t get to finish, as Steve pulled him and held him tight. “Bucky, that wasn’t you. You weren’t yourself. HYDRA did those things. They used you.” Steve whispered fiercely. Bucky closed his eyes, tears forming. He would never deserve this man. He hugged back just as tight. After a moment he pulled away and put his hands to Steve’s face, eyes shining with unshed tears. He kissed Steve’s forehead, and when the tears flowed down he wiped at them with his thumbs. They kissed, soft and tender and filled with words they couldn’t say. When they pulled away, Bucky felt significantly better, and he laughed hesitantly as he wiped at his own eyes. 

“Is that why you kept this from me? You think I deserve a shot to be in a world where I wasn’t... where I didn’t have blood on my hands?” He asked, but without accusation or malice.

Steve looked down at his own hands and fiddled with the wedding ring on his own finger. “Yeah, in a way. And also... maybe... for my own selfish reasons.”

This time it was Bucky who reached out to hold hands. “When we get back, Steve, you can be as selfish as you want.”

This got a smile from Steve, the first since Bucky got home, and it washed over him, refreshing his tired mind. “Back there... I’m not just Steve.”

“You’re the star-spangled man with the plan.”

Steve chuckled. “Yeah. But seriously... I dunno how we could... as Captain America I can’t just follow my heart.”

“We don’t have to tell the world Stevie. We could keep this one thing for ourselves.”

Steve looked at him, a mixture of hope and trepidation in his eyes. “You don’t mind?”

“If we could stay here forever, Stevie, I would. I want to wake up every morning seeing your handsome mug drooling on the pillow. I want to come home to you painting away on that easel in your workstation. I want to make love with you into the night. But it would be a lie. It would mean there’s a world out there that doesn’t have a Captain America.” 

“Then... why go back at all?”

Bucky brought up Steve’s left hand and kissed the ring. “We can make a world for ourselves, back there. I promise. It won’t be as easy as in this world where we had a fancy wedding and everything, but it will be worth it.” 

There was a hint of humor in Steve’s eyes as he asked, “You promise?”

“Yeah.” Bucky replied easily. “When we get back, I promise I’ll finally tell you about this long-held crush I’ve had on you.”

“You don’t say?” Steve rejoined, a bit of sarcasm in his voice. “I think we’ve already crossed that bridge, seeing as how we’ve been living together as husbands these three weeks.”

“Well, I’m an old-fashioned guy. I like to do things proper.”

“Like you did last night?”

Bucky laughed. Steve joined him, and Bucky hoped he can love and laugh as easily as this with Steve when they get back. Their moment was cut short by an otherworldly noise coming from their living rooms, and they both looked at each other with alarm. In silence, they signaled to each other and Bucky took the bat he kept under the bed as Steve looked at him admonishing. Bucky just shrugged, and cautiously opened the door as Steve positioned himself behind him. 

“Winter Soldier! Hey, it’s me again!”

Bucky lowered the bat and rolled his eyes. “Bug-man’s back.” He said to Steve, who relaxed his stance. They both left the bedroom to see Scott, Ant-Man, and another man with him- tall, be-caped and with a sharp expression on a face that sported a fancily groomed mustache and beard. 

“That’s not... oh you know what I know you guys know what my name is and you’re doing this on purpose to exasperate me but it’s not gonna happen, no sir. Anyway I brought Dr. Strange with me so he can explain everything to you guys so’s you and I and we can all agree to go back to our own time and dimension please oh please Fury’s already shouted at me for losing you guys in an alternate quantum direction the first time and that dude’s really scary.” Scott took a deep breath after saying so much in one go.

“Did... did you just say quantum for the heck of it?” Bucky started, but Dr. Strange held up a hand. “Gentlemen,” he began, “I am Dr. Stephen Strange. We went on a mission together when the two of you accidentally slipped into...”

“We’re up to speed, thanks Doc.” Bucky cut in. He wasn’t really, but he just wanted to see how Scott would react.

“Oh. Then my presence here wasn’t really needed at all, now was it?” Dr. Strange pointedly asked Scott with a raised eyebrow, who in turn hung his head back and let out a loud sigh. “They did earlier! Bucky was all ‘what who where how’!”

“Yeah no, you’re exaggerating.” Bucky was enjoying needling Scott, who had such amusing reactions. Scott turned to him and saw him grinning, and literally almost stomped his feet in indignation. “You’re fucking with... Dr. Strange this guy is fucking with me!” Scott protested. Steve hid his mouth with the back of his hand, pretending to cough. Scott turned to Steve and whined, “Aw not you too Cap! You’re supposed to be the good guy here!” 

“Gentlemen my time is not something to be wasted. If we are done here, and we are, as I already have Loki in custody, maybe it’s high time we all returned to the right space and time?” Dr. Strange archly said, and turned with a sweep of his cape to open a portal and without a backwards glance walked through it and left the three others to their own devices. The remaining men just stared at the space where the sorcerer was, and then Bucky raised a hand and pointed towards the space. “Is he just gonna leave us here or...?”

“Yeah no, he does that. Doesn’t like to go through time via quantum jumps with the Pym particles like the rest of us, probably ‘coz he can’t wear a cape with the uniform.” Scott replied.

“Hmm, he does look the type to always wear a cape.”

“Actually, the cape wears him.”

“Ah.” Bucky nodded at Scott, who clapped and pointed at him with a smile. “Ah-ha! Something in common!” 

At this point Steve cleared his throat. “I think that’s enough of that guys. Scott, can you wait here while me and Bucky get into gear?”

“Sure! Sure thing Cap! Take all the time you need. Actually not really but I mean just... no rush! Okay? But we still gotta go back or else Fury’s gonna have my head.”

Steve nodded at Scott before following Bucky into their bedroom and closing the door. Once inside, he is caught in surprise as Bucky grabbed him and kissed him passionately. Steve pulled back and said, “hey, we gotta go.”

“He did say take our time.” Bucky said, impish smile on his face.

Steve just laughed. “We’ll have time when we get back. We’ll make time. I’m with you Buck.”

“You promise?”

Steve took Bucky’s hand, and kissed the ring, mirroring Bucky’s action earlier. 

“To the end of the line.” 

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That should be it for this particular prompt.


End file.
